Reba McEntire Reveals Early Career Turning Point

Reba McEntire has built an incredibly successful career, forging a path for both herself and other female musicians in the country music industry. Early in her journey, respect was harder to come by. “They used to introduce me as, ‘The Little Girl Singer, Reba McEntire!’” she shared in a clip from her audiobook, “Not That Fancy.”

As she went on to explain, the nickname itself didn’t upset her at the time, but its larger implications made navigating the music world difficult. “I was very frustrated that I couldn’t call the shots myself,” she said. McEntire realized that male singers had a lot more autonomy, she decided to speak up for herself. That decision — and moving to a new record label — completely changed the course of her career.

McEntire Advocated For a Different Sound

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McEntire got her start recording songs that often featured an orchestra, but she got to a point where she wanted something different. A producer named Jerry Kennedy showed McEntire a demo of “Can’t Even Get The Blues,” a song he intended to have another artist record. When the “Fancy” singer asked why she wasn’t first in line for the energetic tune, he asked if she would be willing to record it. In the end, it became McEntire’s first number-one hit.

“It was great to feel like I had a seat at the table for what I wanted my career to be,” McEntire said, recalling how she felt at the time. This turning point soon led to another: she left her record label in 1984 for greener pastures. At MCA Records, she found even more freedom. “After I’d been there awhile, I expressed how I wanted to do an album like the ones I’d grown up with,” the singer said. Instead of being stifled, she found herself on the hunt for her own songs with her new label’s blessing.

The Singer is Passionate About Helping Other Female Artists

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McEntire found her footing through hard work and self-advocacy, and she’s now passionate about helping the next generation of female singers do the same. “Loretta and Dolly and Tammy, and then Barbara Mandrell, all helped pave the road for me,” she told CMT at a recent event. “And I thought, ‘Well, it’s my responsibility to to do things to help ones coming on after me.’”

One of the ways McEntire has done that is through partnering with and mentoring other artists. “Many of us write together; we support each other, she told Woman’s Day about women in country music. “The camaraderie is special.” That camaraderie was on full display at the ACM Awards this year, when McEntire took the stage alongside Lainey Wilson and Miranda Lambert for the trio’s debut (and appropriately named) single, “Trailblazer.”

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